China's Perceived External Threats

Even while embroiled in the problems of territorial disputes with its neighbors
and the dangers of periodic tensions on the Korean Peninsula and across the
Taiwan Strait, China perceives the United States as its major threat.

Beijing believes that the United States still maintains its Cold War policy
toward China and the Asia-Pacific region and stresses ideological differences
and their relationship to security issues of concern in the region. In China’s
view, Washington’s attitude exacerbates tensions, which, in turn, lead
to international turmoil. Post- Soviet Russia is now fairly benign in China’s
view, and relations have improved significantly from the days of border conflicts
and high-level tension. Concerns about the remilitarization of Japan also resurface
on occasion, often as a legacy of World War II enmity.